The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an upcoming PC from The Astronauts, a new company formed by People Can Fly (Bulletstorm, Painkiller) founder Adrian Chmielarz. In this game, we’re going to be taking a step back from the shoot first, ask questions later approach that litters many games these days. Instead, we step into the shoes of a detective who is looking for a missing boy. It sounds pretty straightforward, but there’s a twist. According to a press release, the detective has the ability to “visualize scenes of lethal crimes.” We’ll use this skill to find the boy and uncover the mystery behind a series of suspected murders.

Details on The Vanishing of Ethan Carter are very scarce right now, but we do have a trailer to show you. The contents of the trailer were made with the Unreal Engine 3. What we see here is said to be in-game footage. The art style has very vibrant colors and in some ways reminds me BioShock Infinite. BioShock Infinite is also powered by the Unreal Engine 3, but Irrational Games made some big modifications to the engine to assist with lighting and maneuverability of structures.

Outside of the core engine, these two games are nothing alike. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter promises to push storytelling in games. The developers want us to play this game by ourselves with no distractions or lighting. It sounds compelling, but all we have now is the trailer below. Take a look.